Seward: Holiday Inn Express (August 2008)

As expected: a chain hotel with the usual amenities. Hot breakfast (biscuits, sausage, cinnamon rolls, bananas, cereal, juices). While we didn’t have any issues with parking, I can imagine that you might at peak operation (although the hotel WAS sold out when we were there because of the salmon derby). The pool wasn’t a bad size (but we didn’t use it). The hotel is in a great location; right on the harbor and near some shops and restaurants (but most of the shops were for booking activities/excursions). Some rooms have balconies, but we weren’t lucky, nor were we given a king-bedded room as requested. It wasn’t possible to make our own reservation here during the days we stayed. The hotel showed “sold out” when trying to make a reservation. Apparently, local travel agents block rooms during the busy times, so we had to book through an agent for this stay. As a result, we weren’t able to get Priority Club points for our stay, nor were we given any of the associated perks or even granted our room request. This is still the best option in Seward, and I’m not sorry that we stayed here. No restaurant onsite (other than the breakfast area), but there are several shops (one deli, one convenience, the visitor’s bureau, and a gift/novelty store) on the first floor. The only disappointment I can recall is that the hotel promised freshly-baked cookies as 8:00 pm each night, but they were never available as advertised.